Aboyne

The name "Aboyne" is derived from "Oboyne", first recorded in 1260, in turn derived from the Gaelic words "abh", "bo", and "fionn", meaning "[place by] white cow river".{{Cite book|title=Place-names of Great Britain and Ireland|last=Field|first=John|date=1980|publisher=David & Charles |isbn=0389201545 |location=Newton Abbot, Devon, UK |oclc=6964610|page=22}}

The village of Aboyne was founded by Charles Gordon, 1st Earl of Aboyne in 1671, who, in the same year, rebuilt the west wing of Aboyne Castle.{{cite web |title=Aboyne-Dinnet Church History |url=http://www.aboyne-dinnet-cromar-churches.org.uk/index.php/aboyne-dinnet-parish-church/church-history |website=Church of Scotland |access-date=2 Aug 2020}} The siting of the castle itself is related to the limited number of the crossings of the Mounth of the Grampian Mountains to the south.[http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=18037 C. Michael Hogan, Elsick Mounth, Megalithic Portal, ed A. Burnham, 2007] In 1715 Aboyne was the scene of a tinchal, or great hunt, organised by John Erskine, sixth Earl of Mar, on 3 September, as a cover for the gathering of Jacobite nobles and lairds to discuss a planned Jacobite rising. The uprising began three days later in Braemar.J. Baynes, The Jacobite Rising of 1715 (1970), pp. 35-36

The former Aboyne Public School was used as a secondary school to the local area, but was notably used during WWII as an evacuee station for those coming from Glasgow. Local Aboyne children were educated in the morning and the evacuee children were educated in the afternoon. Any overflow evacuees were passed on to the nearby church hall, and as many as 1,250 were evacuated to the Deeside area in 1939.{{Cite web |title=Aberdeenshire Council Historic Environment Record - Aberdeenshire - NO59NW0056 - ABOYNE BUSINESS CENTRE |url=https://online.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/smrpub/master/detail.aspx?tab=main&refno=NO59NW0056 |access-date=2022-05-01 |website=online.aberdeenshire.gov.uk}}

An eighth-century Christian presence in Aboyne is attested by a Pictish stone cross called the Formaston Stone. The slab is inscribed with Ogham characters which have been transliterated as “MAQQOoiTALLUORRH | NxHHTVROBBACCxNNEVV.”{{cite web |title=Formaston |url=https://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=7112 |website=The Megalithic Portal |access-date=2 Aug 2020}} These are the Pictish names Talorc (TALLUORRH) and Nehht (NxHHT), both of which were names of kings.{{cite web |title=Pictish/Scottish Names |url=http://www.peiraeuspubliclibrary.com/names/europa/picts.html |website=Peiraeus Public Library |access-date=2 Aug 2020}} In fact, the Pictish king Nechtan (d. 732) was said by Bede to have accepted the Christian faith in response to the teachings of Adamnan, abbot of Iona, eventually bringing his people to Christianity as well.{{cite DNB|wstitle= Nechtan |volume= 40 |last= Mackay |first= Aeneas James George |author-link= Aeneas James George Mackay |pages= 152-154 |year= |short=1}} Aboyne's first church was dedicated to Adamnan, and it was at the burial ground of this church where the Formaston Stone was first discovered. The stone was eventually removed to Aboyne Castle and is currently exhibited in the Inverurie Museum.{{cite web |title=Formaston Stone, Aboyne |url=http://www.scottishchurches.org.uk/sites/site/id/3246/name/Formaston+Stone%2C+Aboyne+Aboyne+and+Glentanar+Grampian |website=POWiS |publisher=Scottish Church Heritage Research |access-date=2 September 2020}}

In 1237, Alexander II granted the Knights Templar a charter of liberty to acquire lands in Scotland, and Walter Byset, Lord of Aboyne, gave the Templar preceptory the church of Aboyne.{{cite book |last1=Temple |first1=William |title=The Thanage of Fermartyn |date=1894 |publisher=Wylie |location=Aberdeen |pages=244–45 |url=https://archive.org/details/thanageoffermart00tempuoft/page/244/mode/2up?q=aboyne |access-date=2 September 2020}} Then, between 1239 and 1249, the church was conveyed to the Templars adproprier usus by Ralph, Bishop of Aberdeen. According to the terms of the charter, the Templars would take charge of the temporalities of the church and maintain a vicar there, while the bishop retained authority in spiritual matters. King Alexander II confirmed the donation on 15 April 1242, and Pope Alexander IV, in 1277, the same year that John of Annan, chaplain to Alexander III, was appointed vicar. Aboyne, along with other Templar possessions in Scotland, was held by the Torphichen Preceptory in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and remained so until the Reformation.{{cite journal |last1=Aitken |first1=Robert |title=The Knights Templar in Scotland |journal=The Scottish Review |date=July 1898 |pages=12–13 |url=https://www.electricscotland.com/history/scottish_knights_templar.pdf |access-date=2 September 2020}}

In 1761, a new parish church was constructed in Aboyne, under the patronage of the Marquess of Huntly; then, in 1842, another church was built on the site of the eighteenth-century structure, and in 1929 at the Union of the Established Church, it was formally dedicated to St. Machar. In 1936, St. Machar's was joined with the United Free Church, and fifty years later, was linked with the parish church of Dinnet, a linkage which led to the 1993 union between the two, which is now known as the Aboyne-Dinnet Parish Church. In 2006, Aboyne-Dinnet was linked with the parish church at Cromar.{{cite web |title=Aboyne-Dinnet |url=http://www.aboyne-dinnet-cromar-churches.org.uk/index.php/aboyne-dinnet-parish-church/church-history}}

Aboyne has an oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb), similar to most of the United Kingdom. Due to its high inland position in Scotland, Aboyne can record some very low temperatures and some high snowfall. Conversely, temperatures can reach exceptional values for the latitude, particularly during the winter months due to the foehn effect; it holds the January and March record for the highest temperatures in Scotland, with {{convert|18.3|C|F}} on 26 January 2003 and {{convert|23.6|C|F}} on 27 March 2012. The former is also the UK's highest January temperature on record, which it shares with Inchmarlo, Kincardineshire and Aber, Gwynedd. The February record for Scotland was broken on 21 February 2019 at 18.3 °C.{{cite web|url=http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/climate-extremes/#?tab=climateExtremes|title=UK climate|first=Met|last=Office|website=www.metoffice.gov.uk|access-date=14 April 2018}}

{{Weather box

|location = Aboyne ({{convert|140|m|ft|abbr=on|disp=or|0}} asl, averages 1991–2020)

|width = auto

|metric first = Y

|single line = Y

|Jan record high C = 18.3

|Feb record high C = 18.3

|Mar record high C = 23.6

|Apr record high C = 25.0

|May record high C = 28.4

|Jun record high C = 30.3

|Jul record high C = 31.6

|Aug record high C = 29.7

|Sep record high C = 28.5

|Oct record high C = 21.4

|Nov record high C = 19.0

|Dec record high C = 17.2

|year record high C = 31.6

|Jan high C = 6.3

|Feb high C = 7.1

|Mar high C = 9.2

|Apr high C = 11.9

|May high C = 15.0

|Jun high C = 17.3

|Jul high C = 19.4

|Aug high C = 18.8

|Sep high C = 16.5

|Oct high C = 12.5

|Nov high C = 8.8

|Dec high C = 6.3

|year high C = 12.5

|Jan mean C = 2.7

|Feb mean C = 3.2

|Mar mean C = 4.8

|Apr mean C = 7.0

|May mean C = 9.6

|Jun mean C = 12.4

|Jul mean C = 14.4

|Aug mean C = 13.8

|Sep mean C = 11.8

|Oct mean C = 8.4

|Nov mean C = 5.0

|Dec mean C = 2.7

|year mean C =

|Jan low C = -0.9

|Feb low C = -0.7

|Mar low C = 0.4

|Apr low C = 2.1

|May low C = 4.2

|Jun low C = 7.6

|Jul low C = 9.4

|Aug low C = 8.8

|Sep low C = 7.0

|Oct low C = 4.2

|Nov low C = 1.2

|Dec low C = -1.0

|year low C = 3.6

|Jan record low C = -23.2

|Feb record low C = -21.4

|Mar record low C = -16.7

|Apr record low C = -10.5

|May record low C = -6.3

|Jun record low C = -3.4

|Jul record low C = -1.3

|Aug record low C = -2.5

|Sep record low C = -4.3

|Oct record low C = -9.1

|Nov record low C = -18.3

|Dec record low C = -22.2

|year record low C = -23.2

|rain colour = green

|Jan rain mm = 69.0

|Feb rain mm = 50.4

|Mar rain mm = 50.3

|Apr rain mm = 57.5

|May rain mm = 55.7

|Jun rain mm = 64.0

|Jul rain mm = 75.4

|Aug rain mm = 68.1

|Sep rain mm = 59.8

|Oct rain mm = 95.4

|Nov rain mm = 86.5

|Dec rain mm = 68.4

|year rain mm = 800.4

|unit rain days = 1 mm

|Jan rain days = 11.8

|Feb rain days = 10.5

|Mar rain days = 10.5

|Apr rain days = 10.0

|May rain days = 10.9

|Jun rain days = 11.1

|Jul rain days = 11.8

|Aug rain days = 11.1

|Sep rain days = 9.1

|Oct rain days = 12.5

|Nov rain days = 13.4

|Dec rain days = 11.7

|year rain days = 134.5

|source 1= Met Office{{Cite web |url=https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/maps-and-data/uk-climate-averages/gfjuxqwcs |title=Aboyne (Aberdeenshire) UK climate averages |publisher=Met Office |access-date=21 March 2020 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200321124257/https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/maps-and-data/uk-climate-averages/gfjuxqwcs |archive-date=21 March 2020 |url-status=live }}

}}

File:Aboyne pics 012 (Large).jpg

In summer, when tourists visit, the number of people and vehicles increases dramatically. The Highland Games on the Village Green features in August. The green includes facilities for rugby and football and a play park as well as Aboyne Canoe Clubs storage facility 'The Canoe Cathedral'.

The British Royal Family are residents in nearby Balmoral Castle during the Summer.

Outdoor pursuits include golf, walking, cycling, mountain biking trails, kayaking, canoeing and gliding from the airfield just outside the village. Aboyne has become popular with gliding enthusiasts from Britain and Europe due to its suitable air currents (due to the surrounding terrain). The airfield has two parallel tarmac runways running east–west, a webcam[http://www.meto.gov.uk/weather/europe/uk/webcam/aboyne/ Aboyne Airfield Webcam] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060721040918/http://www.meto.gov.uk/weather/europe/uk/webcam/aboyne/ |date=21 July 2006 }} and small weather-monitoring centre[http://www.meto.gov.uk/weather/europe/uk/obs/aboyne.html Aboyne meteorological data] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060924042411/http://www.meto.gov.uk/weather/europe/uk/obs/aboyne.html |date=24 September 2006 }} on its premises. Aboyne contains a mountain biking facility at Aboyne Bike Park located in the Bellwood.

The old Aboyne Curling Club had its own private railway station, Aboyne Curling Pond railway station, at the Loch of Aboyne.

The close by pass of Ballater is a rock-climbing area. The village of Dinnet is a few miles west and is the first being located inside the Cairngorms National Park. Walkers and cyclists can ascend Mount Keen by cycling as far as they can from Glen Tanar forest before walking to the summit.

There are two schools, Aboyne Academy and a primary school. The academy has around 650 pupils, about a quarter from Aboyne itself, with the remaining three quarters from surrounding villages. The primary school has around 240 children and also contains a nursery with around 30 children. The school has access to a full-size swimming pool and gym run by the adjacent Deeside Community Centre.

Belwade Farm, a horse sanctuary, is situated nearby.

A small stone circle is situated in the village, with several other megaliths nearby, notably the Tomnaverie stone circle, which is also the site of a disused Royal Observer Corps monitoring post.

{{expand section|date=November 2023}}

The village is served by the 201/202 bus service operated by Stagecoach which provides a regular bus service to Aberdeen, Banchory, Ballater and Braemar.

• Aboyne Bridge, to the south of Aboyne{{Cite web |title=Aboyne, Bridgeview Road, Aboyne Bridge |url=https://canmore.org.uk/site/35298/aboyne-bridgeview-road-aboyne-bridge |access-date=2023-11-24 |website=Canmore |language=en}}

{{Reflist}}

{{commons category}}

• {{gbmapping|NO525985}}

{{Marr, Aberdeenshire places|state=uncollapsed}}

{{Aberdeenshire places|state=collapsed}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Villages in Aberdeenshire

Category:Parishes in Aberdeenshire